Everybody feels differently about goals and goal setting. Some people love setting goals and need to set them in order to stay on track. Others hate setting goals and think it’s simply a waste of time.
The truth of the matter is that nothing will ever work in life unless you put in the work. If you are willing to put in the work to set goals and stay on track with them, you will find goal setting to be beneficial. If you aren’t willing to put in the work to set goals and follow them, then it is going to be a waste of your time.
Either way, you control the impact goal setting has on your life.
Goal setting isn’t about the accomplishment itself. It’s about being able to think more clearly while also providing you with a direction that aligns with your purpose or what it is that you want to accomplish.
Goals provide clarity. We all have a vision of what it is that we want to achieve, but many of us simply fail to take the proper steps to actually achieve these desires.
When you set goals and put the pen to paper, you are faced with the truth. Whatever is written becomes real. For me personally, writing down my goals has helped me to define who I really am as a person and who I want to become. Goals are tools that have helped me to navigate through the hard times in life and have helped provide me with clarity.
If you are someone who is looking to take your life to the next level (and I mean this in all seriousness), you NEED to start setting goals for yourself.
In this article, I’ll explain exactly what goal-setting is and how goal setting leads to more success in every aspect of your life. As you’ll discover, it’s a key that can open many doors for you and can change your life.
An Introduction To Goal Setting
If you have never set goals before or constantly find yourself giving up after only a few days, here’s what you need to know.
When it comes to setting goals, these goals can be big, small, short-term, long-term, or anything in-between. With that being said, all goals have one thing in common: They will give you something to aim for and a direction to guide you.
It’s important to have a direction in life. You wouldn’t get into a car and drive without eventually knowing where you want to end up. You wouldn’t hop on a plane if you didn’t first know where you were going. So why not set a destination for your life? Give your life a direction and follow that direction until you achieve it.
Goals give you purpose. They help drive you forward in the direction you see yourself going. They give you meaning and purpose. In other words—they simply make you feel alive!
If you have never spent time setting goals before, let me share with you what I do and how I set goals for the things that I want to achieve in life:
- Take some time to evaluate all areas of your life – your health, career, family, etc. Grade yourself on how well you are doing in each of these areas.
- Next, determine which of these areas you are excelling in and which areas could use a bit of a boost.
- Think of a few different ways in which you could improve these areas of your life. For example, if your health is lacking, start exercising more and eating a healthier diet. If your career isn’t taking off, track how productive you are and the type of work you are doing.
- Now, set some definite goals for what you would like to achieve. Get specific and tell yourself exactly how you plan on losing weight, exactly how you plan on taking your career to the next level, or how you plan on improving the various relationships in your life.
- Write down these goals, including the date you want to accomplish them by, and put them somewhere where you will see them every single day. The more you physically see your goals, the more likely you will be to actually follow through and commit to them.
Now, goals are important, but goals without a plan are just a wish or a dream. This isn’t about wishful thinking. This is meant to help you take action on changing your life for the better. Set goals, but set realistic goals, and don’t forget to take action.
If you’re new to the world of goal setting, then I’d recommend you start by setting goals that are easier to achieve. Don’t set a drastic goal that you are going to give up on after a few short days of striving for that goal. Ease your way into it, set goals that are relatively simple, and expand on your goals as you start to see results.
You might not see the benefit of setting smaller, more attainable goals, but I promise, they serve a purpose. Once you’ve successfully accomplished smaller, more attainable goals, you will see a boost in your self-confidence and you will be more prepared to take on some larger, more challenging goals.
Examples of Goals
Here are a few examples of goals that many of us have thought about before:
- Becoming a millionaire
- Buying a new car
- Traveling around the world
- Changing careers to something you find more meaningful
- Retiring early (hopefully before 67)
- Writing a book
I’m sure you can think of many more things that you would personally like to achieve. When it comes to goal setting, there is no limit as to what you can and can’t strive to accomplish. Your mind is simply your only barrier.
Now, the trick with larger goals, ones that are more difficult to achieve, is to break them down into small, bite-sized chunks. This means you’ll have a big end goal, but you will also have smaller goals, more attainable goals that will help you to keep your confidence high, but will also help steer you in the direction of achieving your main goal.
When you do this, you’ll make big goals more achievable. It’s easier to start running a mile every day to get in shape than it is to go out and run a marathon. Plus, you’ll have an easy way to track how far along the road to your goal you are at any given point in time.
Taking Action Towards Achieving Your Goals
Everything first starts with an idea. At some point in our life, we will come across an idea that could be worth millions. The reason why many never see that million is simply because they fail to see their ideas through.
Taking action towards achieving your goals is the only way you are ever going to achieve them. If you want to experience how goal setting leads to more success, you first need to be willing to take action. It’s that plain and simple.
Back when I first started my blog, I had the goal of inspiring those around me through sharing my stories and life experiences.
However, since starting my blog, my goals have changed. While I still have the same goal of inspiring others through my experiences, I have expanded on just how many people I want to inspire, how I see myself inspiring them, and the different platforms I can use to inspire others.
I did this by getting specific. I got clear on the:
- Number of articles I was publishing
- How I was going to drive traffic to my message
- Different ways that I was going to showcase my life
- And as I have grown both in life and with my blog, I look for new ways to challenge myself and dip into different niches.
I am on a goal to master my life in every single way possible. I want to showcase the good, the bad, every idea that passes through my mind, and show others that life has no limits.
Through goal setting, I have been able to stay on track. When you know specifically what it is that you want to achieve, it makes putting a plan in place all that much easier.
Goal setting has had a powerful impact on my motivation and energy. Now, I will admit that I have an addictive personality, but because I have outlined exactly what it is that I want to achieve, I am able to clearly see what needs to be done in order to achieve each goal.
How Goal Setting Leads To More Success
If you haven’t yet experienced the incredible power of goal setting, then now’s the time to get started. Don’t procrastinate any longer. The longer you wait, the longer it’s going to take to see your goals through.
Take some time to envision all that you want to accomplish, jot down a plan for how you are going to achieve your goals, break that plan down into smaller, easier steps, and then take action because you have no other option.
If you start setting goals for what it is that you want to accomplish in life, you’ll be able to change all areas of your life, including boosting your health, your relationships, and your future.
Final Thoughts
Now, let me leave you with five questions that will help you think about your future:
- What would you like to be doing in 1, 2, 5, and 10 years?
- What are some of the things that make you incredibly happy in life?
- What separates you from everybody else out there?
- How can goal setting help you achieve more success?
- How can you inspire others and create a lasting impact on the world?
Take some time to think about your response to each of these answers. Once you have a response, build a plan that is going to help you achieve all of the things you want.
Michael Bonnell
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